Was chatting with people at the swim line and didn't even realize I was already up! Forgot to set my Garmin to multi-sport mode so I was a bit flustered on the swim. Made a running start. Did my first 100m ok, but started to lose form a little later and I had to keep reminding myself. I had a gap to the person in front and had a gap to the person behind me so I was completely by myself on the pool swim - almost. Never fails - I wanted to get some practice drafting someone so I was prepared to turn it up if I get passed - but I wasn't passed! Everything going ok - I was breathing a bit hard and tried to keep calm and smooth. Reach and twist! Nearing the last turn, I started coming up on someone swimming very slow (some idiot that had no clue of what his swim time really is - I'm not a fast swimmer but if I miss, I'm not off by more than 20-30 sec...but this guy was off by at least 2-3 minutes). I tapped him on the foot and started to pass him...and then he decides to switch to breast stroke! I dodge his frog kick but as I come up on him, WHAM! right on my right eye and off goes my goggles. Fortunately, I keep my goggle straps under my swim cap so it didn't go too far away. I stopped at the wall to drain the water out and then proceeded for my last 50m. Went for the ladder and otherwise was fine.

Need to get my Garmin set so I don't have to think about it. I also need to keep my form from breaking up. However, this was probably my best swim performance to date and a PR so I can't complain!

First of all - I have no clue how this race organizer assigns racks for this race. I was #189 so you'd think I'd have a more favorable rack than #300 or even #500..but no, I'm almost as far as you can possibly get from bike out - and I have to also run an extra 20-30m along with 2 turns!

I thought this went fairly well so aside from getting a better rack. However, once on the bike, I pulled too hard on my left shoe strap and managed to pull it out of the buckle. Had to thread it back so probably lost time on the bike since I wasn't pedaling hard. Need more practice putting my shoes on the bike.

I was planning to go hard on today's bike leg and I did. I normally keep my HR around 155 on the bike leg but I was closer to 160 for most of the time on this one, and even up to 162 or so for a while. I got passed by 1 guy as I was putting my shoe on but I passed him back pretty quick. I was pretty happy with my bike performance but the official race avg speed was 1mph less than my Garmin which is very strange. Garmin had 22mph which was closer to what I was expecting.

Probably could've kept my cadence a bit higher but also had my HR pegged over LT so not sure if I really had anything more. Need to train more as my avg is about 1mph behind the leaders. However, for my next race, I think I need to dial back the effort a bit on the bike - try to cap off th effort around 157bpm or so to see if I can run better off the bike.

I'm happy with my T2. Only mistake was probably taking my shoes off a bit too early, and I slipped a bit on the way in. Very smooth cyclocross dismount - actually looked like I knew what I was doing! Started running with the bike and remembered to unclasp my helmet as I was running. Rack bike, helmet off, shoes on, grabbed my cap and got going!

I think I did this as smooth as I could do so I'm happy

I started off the run ok but can feel that I pushed it hard on the bike today. Got through the first mile ok - pacing a little under 7:00 pace but on the 2nd mile, I was starting to hurt. Pace dropped closer to 7:30 and I had to keep pushing myself. Run cadence felt slow as I had my HR up there (with the heat and my bike effort contributing I'm sure). Just took a gulp of water at every water station and dumped the rest on my head. Unlike last year, I would clearly ask for water and didn't dump gatorade on my head. Pushed hard on the downhill, resisting the urge to relax. Finished hard but wished I had someone to race with to help push me. Like the bike, I didn't get passed at all.

Train more. I'd like to run a triathlon 5K under 21 minutes one of these days...Also, having someone to chase on the run would help. For this race, I didn't really have someone faster than me come along to help get my pace higher. I felt a had a little bit more left if I had to race someone.

Not much - ran to car to get camera.


My training has been consistent but volumes haven't been high. I haven't hit my running training plan volumes so if I can be more disciplined there, I can probably drop another 10-15 sec/mile. Evaluating the race, it went well. I set a PR on my swim and I think I'm pretty close to 'average' now. exactly at 50th-percentile in my age group and a little over 60th-percentile overall. That's good motivation to keep on training. I think I can get to 75th percentile (at least on pool swims) if I keep my swim workouts consistent. Compared to last year, I'm almost 2 minutes faster on the 350m swim - same pool and similar conditions.

Compared to where I was racked, I lost about 15 seconds having to cover more distance and do 2 turns compared to last year. My seeding last year was 350+ so you'd think I'd get a better rack by being 189. Next year, I'm going to give a 45 minute swim time to get a better rack and just start the swim earlier.

For the bike, I gained 2 1/2 minutes from last year. Part of that gain was probably a less technical course and going from my aero road bike to my Cervelo P3 time trial bike, but I think I also improved at least a minute from last year. went from 58th overall to 26th!

On the run, I was a little disappointed, but compared to last year, I'm almost 2 1/2 minutes faster. Went from 106th to 44th overall so that's a pretty good improvement also. It was a tiny bit hotter today than last year but it was the exact same course so it's a good comparison of how I've improved from last year.

I'd love to do this race again next year and see if I can get even better. Perhaps sub-1 hour?!? (I'd have to work hard on the run and swim though and get a better rack assignment).


This race is probably my favorite sprint since it's so close and the course is nice. If they can fix their racking order, it would be great! Good food (eggs, bacon, sausage, bagels, pancakes, as well as apples, bananas, and oranges)!